Just Do
by Rui
Summary: A little misunderstanding, and a little confession...


## Just Do

By Yimh

[rictorstar@aol.com][1]

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Author's Notes: This is a pointless WAFF that I dreamed up. I guess you could call it a song fic as well, but what the hey. ^_^ Hope you like it, and I know that Akane will be OOC but that's what makes it fanfiction right? ;p No flames please! Don't know why anyone would, but what the hey! Oh, and the song is "Why Should I Care?" By Sara Evans

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters, or the song, I'm just using them for a non-money making story for entertainment. NO sueing please.

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Hearts aren't broken by the rain. They get shattered whether the sun in shinning, or the heavens are burning with moonlight, or even in the snowfall. Emotions aren't as easy to change as night and day, dry to wet like the weather. And as each new day rolls smoothly into another, the seasons start to change. Neither does this change bring about the molestation of the heart. Nothing but actions and words can ever change a heart, pick it up and break it without any mercy.

Darkness aided in the mystery of what it might be like to receive such a pain. But it was never necessary. Although, by the Lord's own hand, it was raining, and it was dark, and he was with someone new.

__

Why should I care if you,  
Found somebody new,

Akane Tendo couldn't feel the people bumping into her as they rushed for shelter from the semi-heavy summer storm. Her umbrella had slipped from her fallen hand minutes ago, lying uselessly on the ground, turned up and now collecting a decent amount of water. Her small mouth hung open, brown eyes slightly larger in shock as she stared into the small restaurant's main window. 

There was no mistaking the happy, smiling face so oblivious to her presence, to her eyes staring at him so intently. Ranma Soatoma ate heartily, smirking and laughing with the dark haired girl in front of him. The way his steel blue eyes nearly danced with enthusiasm as a smirk was drawn upon his lips. It seemed as if he was truly enjoying himself in the company of what Akane could only guess was his new girlfriend. 

_And you look like your in love_

Though she couldn't see the other woman's face, Akane felt a twinge of hate in her torn apart heart. Yet, as she stared in the pouring rain, with the soft glow of the inside lights highlighting her skin and hair, the other one reminded her of herself. Short dark hair, only the other girl's came to her shoulders, wearing an off white dress that had a satin green sash tied into a bow around the stranger's waist. Something the youngest Tendo would have worn.

__

And why should I care if she,  
Looks a lot like me  
And she's all you've ever dreamed of

Maybe hearts are dissolved quicker in the rain. Perhaps they choose the time when angels cry for the world, to cry themselves. Akane numbly brushed her chilled hand over her cheek, smearing the warm droplet of water in with the colder ones. Several more tears trickled out of her eyes before the first sob escaped her throat. Lamely, she covered her face with her hands and cried into them. 

Finding the courage to peek through her fingers, only for an instant, Akane nearly let her shaking knees drop her to the ground. The new couple was making their way to the door, the stranger's arm wrapped around his. With nothing else to do, and no excuse to think of, the girl turned and ran toward her home.

Ranma, the object of Akane's broken heart, opened the door to the restaurant, and allowed his 'date' to go through first. Carefully opening his umbrella under the safety of the front door's over hang, he looked over at the shorter woman and sighed.

"It's just that easy." She said in a nonchalant voice. 

"Hmph." Was his reply. Turning to the direction of the Tendo dojo, it was his turn for eyes to become larger. On the ground lay a pink umbrella, completely useless to anyone, since it was thoroughly soaked, and bowled the rain within its cloth walls. A small black piglet design was on one of the panels, followed by the owner's name. 

"Akane," he gulped. "She must've saw us."

"Oh great." His date muttered, pulling the pins from her hair. 

@---)----)-----

Water, swiftly running within its bed, maneuvering around the large stones, and running over the smaller ones. Nothing ever bothers the water it seemed, nothing ever to trouble the constant current as it went from one place to another. No matter what was thrown in its path, the river always found a way around it. But like the seasons, and weather, hearts aren't like a river, they hit walls and stumble backwards.

Akane's glistening eyes stared intently at the water's edge as it went about it's marked journey. Her knees tucked under her chin, her arms wrapped around her legs keeping them close to her chest as possible. Trails of tears had started to appear without the rain to hide them from on lookers. But what kinds of people go under a bridge at this time of night, in the pouring rain?

It didn't matter where she looked, all she saw was the scene played out a million times. The way his eyes seemed to study the figure in front of him as if she was giving him life-altering instructions. Ranma didn't even flinch when the other girl grabbed his arm, and wrapped her thinner arms around it. Why didn't he tell her?

Sure, Akane was the one that in a fit of angry passion called off the engagement and swore never to talk to her fiancé ever again, but he could have told her that for once, he took her at her word. The martial artist could always face death and laugh, but never tell his own fiancee anything about anything. Should it have been such a surprise that he didn't have the guts to tell her it was over? Finally. Completely. Utterly gone and done with.

_So why should I care if I  
Mean nothing in your eyes?_

Why now? It had only been a week since her out burst, and their fathers tried religiously to get them back together, in word if not in hand. Perhaps, Akane mused, Ranma knew this girl all along and was simply waiting for a time when the 'tomboy' would pull the breaking up stunt again to go out with her. 

Akane's broken heart sunk further in her chest. 

__

What you felt for me is gone

She'd blown this time for sure. If Ranma had agreed to call it quits, then it was true, and all her time hiding what she felt was now in vein. There was never going to be a moment where Ranma and she looked at each other and the truth came tumbling out from their lips, before they met those lips in their first kiss. 

No! It was pointless. Akane'd seen it with her own two eyes. But still a nagging emotion gnawed at the edges of her heart. Was it annoyance? Rejection? Or perhaps love? Yeah, okay, what was the point in denying it now? It wasn't like it would do anything to change what seemed to be done. 

Swallowing the heavy lump in her throat, and new tears in her eyes, Akane whispered, "You jerk, I actually l-love you."

_Oh, and why would I feel that way  
Now that its too late  
To change what I did wrong_

The next moments were conquered by tears, finally free from the dam of emotions. Sobs were followed by sniffs and a warm red nose. Akane didn't know how long she'd been sitting under the bridge, but her clothes began to dry, and were turning stiffer with every moment. 

"Akane?" 

A sudden chilled breeze caressed her body, cooling her flushed cheeks, empathizing where the tears had fallen. Daring a glance, Akane looked over in the direction the voice had called from. Even through her blurred vision, it was no mistake who it was.

A baby blue Chinese style shirt, she noticed, untouched by the rain. She never told him, but it had always been her favorite. It was in the way the blue brought out his eyes, those eyes that where now gazing at her in concern. Those eyes, that face, everything made the hurt heart skip a beat, and caused her breath to be caught in her throat for a moment.

_Oh, I didn't care   
Enough to keep you around  
So, baby, tell me why should I care now?_

Selfishly, Akane attempted to brush some of the lingering tears from her puffy read eyes, hoping, as he started coming closer to her, that he didn't see the evidence of her recent brokeness. Squatting down till he was level, but never giving up the umbrella, he tried to meet her downcast eyes. 

Had he seen her? Oh heavens, what was he going to say? Was he going to laugh at her? Akane bit back the questions, and kept an urge to run in check. No need to dash off into the cold, pattering rain without due cause. 

"You dropped this." Ranma reached behind him, and unhooked the tiny pink umbrella from where it had hung on his drawstring. She was glad to accept it, and thanked him only with a nervous timid smile. The moments of silence seem to stretch farther than the time she'd spent staring at him in the diner. Lacking the bravado to pound him, since the pig tailed boy was no longer 'hers', and finding courage to look him in the eyes fleeting, they remained in silence.

"Ranma..."

"Akane..."

They looked up at each other, a brief eye contact was made, but then quickly lost as Akane turned away from Ranma. If she'd had taken a second to glance at him again, she'd have seen the disheartened expression dance across his face. 

"You go first, Akane." 

Closing her eyes so tight that they burned, she sucked in a sharp breath before starting. What on earth could she say to him? Maybe the truth? Maybe not?

"I-I'm happy for you." She lied. "If-if she's what you want then I---I'm really happy for you." If she repeated it, maybe, just maybe, she could believe in the falsehoods. 

"Akane, listen..."

She put a hand up for him to stop, feeling like there was nothing left to lose, Akane changed positions till she was sitting on her ankles facing her ex-fiancé. Licking her lips, the small girl looked the young man in the eyes, took his free hand in hers and started.

"I never thought---I mean, I never knew that you where in l---love with someone. And, I know this doesn't mean anything to you, maybe it never did, but, I---I," She took a breath to swallow the same annoying rock in her throat. "love you." 

_I was the one who let you go,  
I never told you that I loved you_

The last two words were barely audible, but somehow, by some estranged fate, he heard it. The simple, honest confession nearly made him lose his balance and fall straight on top of Akane, or send him into the puddle behind him. Ranma felt something warm hit his hand. The dark blue haired girl hung her head, her smaller hand gripping his, with heated tears spilling on top of them.

"And I'm sorry about bothering you with this. I never thought you'd take me breaking off the engagement seriously." She continued, her voice strangled by soft sobs. "I know you probably think that I never cared, and I didn't think I did. But I saw you with her tonight, and ---I don't know why, but I *do* care. I just---do." No more coherent words could tumble across her lips as she found them sealed together with tears. 

_My heart was never really there  
So why should I care?  
Why should I care?  
I just do_

Tendo would have tried to run at that moment, but was blinded by the same soft blue shirt that was dry from the rain, and warm. Her tears now poured shamelessly into its fabric, feeling the body heat from its wearer making her clutch unto it with balled fists.

"Akane, you dummy." Ranma said softly, pulling her off of him reluctantly. "I never take you seriously." With the fire of anger sparking in her brown eyes, the young man smartly added, "When you break off us being fiancees!"

Satisfied, Akane's wet eyes quickly smothered the fury. "But then why?"

He chuckled to himself, standing to his full height and gently raising her as he did so they were both standing. "She was a---friend that was helping me do some---tweaking."

"Tweaking?" Akane blinked back in surprise. She'd never heard him use *that* word before.

"Yeah, heh, 'tweaking'." Ranma felt some of the tension slide away as Akane's eyes, even in the shadows started to dry as she giggled at the word. Why? Who knows. Raking his now free hand through his jet-black hair, Saotoma looked down at the girl, "Didja mean what you said?"

Again, with that annoying rock/lump in her throat! Gazing up into the treasured steel blue eyes, Akane felt her breath seep out of her lips in a sigh. She could chicken out like he did, and keep it in the dark. Or, Akane mused, she could take the upper hand, be stronger than him-even if it was just this once, and admit the truth in her claim. A hope flickered in his eyes, pleading almost for her to answer. 

"Yes, Ranma, I meant it." 

A smile broke across his worried face, one Akane was glad to match. Her fantasies always where that he'd say 'the words' first, then she'd agree, then the kiss. Reality is not a fantasy. Fantasies might become reality, but reality becomes memories. On the night that her heart had buckled into a dangerous roller-coaster ride, was also the same night Ranma Saotoma and Akane Tendo shared their first kiss.

Nabiki Tendo, from the street, looked down at her sister wrapped up in her future brother-in-laws arms and smirked. The short, black wig in one of her hands, her brown locks where still pinned smugly against her skull and the edges of her white dress and green sash began to dampen. A free dinner, a small amount of pocket money from it, and her sister's happiness, the night's income was very fruitful.

"Don't worry, Ranma," Nabiki whispered, turning again to her home, "I'll put this on your tab." 

Fin.

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Pointless? Yes, I know ^_^ But what the hey! I wanted to write mush!

   [1]: mailto:rictorstar@aol.com



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